RE: Man, did I do...

I fried my bay tree last year - it's potted and I move it into the
greenhouse every winter - anyway it got seriously hot in there towards
the beginning of spring and then I forgot to water. 4 ft tall and the
thing was just sticks and crunchy leaves when I found it. Maybe two
leaves at the bottom were still alive. I watered the heck out of it and
kept trimming down the obviously dead parts, in about 3 weeks it had new
growth everywhere, it lost maybe six to ten inches off every branch but
it lived. Your jasmine will probably do the same. 

Cyndi 

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-gardenchat@hort.net [o*@hort.net] On
Behalf Of james singer
Sent: Monday, December 18, 2006 9:26 AM
To: Garden Chat
Subject: [CHAT] Man, did I do...

a dumb thing....

Every month when the Social Security check coasts in, I buy two 40-pound
bags of salt chunks for the water softener. It's a ritual

I have one of those Rubbermaid garden carts--not sure how to describe
it, but I'm sure you've seen them. Shaped kind of like the bucket on a
backhoe. Normally, I unload the bags of salt from the back of my truck
into the cart, then wheel them around the house to the water softener.

Two months ago, I got the bags of salt as far as the cart just as it
started to rain. So I dragged the cart up the driveway to the garage and
parked it under the eaves. The storm was quite fierce and windy; even
though the cart was more-or-less protected, it nearly filled with water.

And one of the bags of salt leaked. So the cart was soon filled with an
ultra-saline solution. And, because the cart is not water-tight, the
solution leaked out and ran down the driveway--which is concrete--and
ran off at the base of a large orange jasmine tree.

Within a few days, it was obvious that the jasmine was in trouble. the
front patio was covered by a blizzard of dead leaves, and leaving the
tree little more than a bunch of upright sticks. So in something of a
panic, I put a hose at the base of the jasmine and turned it on,
thinking I might be able flush the salt out. The water from the hose
bypasses the softener, so it wasn't coals to Newcastle. I let it run for
3 or 4 days.

Periodically since then, I've run the water at the base of the tree for
a few hours at a time.

Today I noticed new leaves on the sticks. I don't know if this signals
recovery or death throe. Interesting thing is that planted next to the
jasmine are a gardenia and a coontie--and neither seem fazed by the
heavy dose of salt.


Island Jim
Southwest Florida
27.0 N, 82.4 W
Hardiness Zone 10
Heat Zone 10
Minimum 30 F [-1 C]
Maximum 100 F [38 C]

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